Regions

Regional development is economic development within a defined geographic (or other) area. Like economic development, it requires you to know where you want to be, or what you want to achieve.

Often it involves understanding where you currently are, your resources and areas of comparative advantage, and the environment that you are operating in.

BERL has detailed regional datasets that can identify what is happening in your regional economy – past and present. We can even provide scenarios on how your regional economy might look at some point in the future.

Applying frameworks that incorporate latest thinking and approaches, we can work with you to achieve your regional development objectives.

Unashamedly I admit I love cars. I love driving cars, I love watching motorsport and I’m doing my best to encourage my 10 year old nephew to appreciate this love affair. The opportunity to spend the weekend watching V8 utes race along with Porsches and F1s is why I head to Mighty Manfeild for events like the New Zealand Prix, and who wouldn’t when you can see the whole of circuit Chris Amon from any seat. But I’m not the only one and this is where my interest in motorsports and economics starts to become more apparent.

Economic performance is important for all New Zealanders. Better economic performance provides us with the opportunity to increase our standard of living through improvements in income, education, health, and the environment. Higher living standards also positively impact on our social and cultural well-being.

Selwyn has regained the coveted title as the best performing local authority in 2012. The position was held by Buller in 2011. Selwyn faced tough competition from near neighbours Ashburton, Waimakariri, Queenstown Lakes and Waimate, who rounded out the top five.

SNZ has released its latest population projections, which sees pockets of growth in Auckland,
Tauranga, Selwyn and Queenstown. The rest of the country has tepid growth, while the Central North
Island sees population decline. The question has been asked, “Is this a realistic projection?”

The BERL regional rankings compare the performance of individual local authorities, regions and cities across four short term, four medium term, and one long term indicator of economic activity. The indicators used are population, employment, GDP and businesses (for the latest year and the five year average), and a Relative Openness Index (which measures the composition of industry within the region).